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T O P I C R E V I E W

Robert Pearlman

The entire populations of Ireland, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Andorra, Antigua, and the Bahamas could have visited the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in fiscal year 2003 (Oct 1, 2002-Sept. 30, 2003), when 10,797,259 million visitors passed through the museum doors.

Since the building on the National Mall opened in 1976, attendance has always surpassed expectations. The National Air and Space Museum is the most visited museum in the world with an average annual attendance of more than 9 million people.

According to Gen. John R. "Jack" Dailey, director of the museum, "The National Air and Space Museum is unique in that the past and the future coexist in a dynamic way, making the science, history and technology of flight meaningful to people of all ages and backgrounds."

Don Lopez, deputy director, can attest to the far-reaching appeal of the museum. "I've been here over 20 years, and in that time I've seen a range of visitors as broad as the globe itself," he said. "It's not uncommon to see Buddhist monks in orange robes and sandals, young men and women in military uniforms, Amish families from nearby counties, neatly dressed businessmen with briefcases, groups of children proudly wearing their school T-shirts, and families speaking all sorts of different languages. It's always an interesting place to be."

The staggering number of visitors to the National Air and Space Museum is expected to increase by another 3 million starting in December, when the museum's companion facility at Washington Dulles International Airport opens. The building on the Mall is large enough to exhibit only 10 percent of the Smithsonian's aviation and space collection, and the new facility, named the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center after its key donor, will ultimately house an additional 80 percent of the collection.

The last time National Air and Space Museum attendance was more than 10 million was in 1998, when the total for the fiscal year was 10,238,890.

BLACKARROW

I always knew I was "one in a million", but now I see that my visit to the NASM in March makes me one in nearly ELEVEN million!!

Rodina

I've never been in DC and not gone to the NASM.

Cliff Lentz

You can count me TWENTY times in that number!!!

Cliff

mensax

Eleven Million Visitors... in one year!

That really is quite an impressive number when you think about it. Imagine the potential...

If one tenth of these people were to sign a petition to double our efforts in space, and deliver it to our representatives what an impact it would make!

Or, imagine that one out of a thousand of these visitors were to go home and think about the idea that they sure would like to own a piece of space memorabilia, and then decide to search ebay to see if anything was available, or perhaps, do a google search and find out about a site called "collectspace".

Eleven thousand new collectors every year.What an impact that would make on our hobby.